Cookery for every household

Choose small onions of equal size. Cut off the roots and tops and remove all the brown outside skin. Throw them into a saucepan of boiling salted water, boil them for 10 minutes, and drain. Then place the onions in a deep fireproof dish, just large enough to hold them. Season them well with pepper and salt, heat the milk and pour it over. Add the dripping or butter broken in small pieces, cover with greased paper and bake in a moderate oven until tender, basting occasionally with the milk. Serve very hot. A little grated cheese may be added when nearly ready. Time to bake, 1 to 11 hours. Probable cost, 4 d. Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons. 520. Baked Onions, 2 (Oignons au Four) Take as many Bermuda onions as required, choosing them of equal size. Throw them without peeling into a saucepan of boiling water slightly salted, and allow them to boil quickly for \ hour. Then drain and dry them. Now wrap each onion separately in a piece of well-greased paper, place them on a baking dish or tin, and bake in a moderate oven until tender, which can be ascertained by piercing them with a skewer. A little water may be sprinkled over the paper from time to time to prevent it scorching. When ready, remove the papers and serve the onions in their skins, dishing them on a folded serviette or paper. Note. — These should be eaten with a little butter, pepper, and salt, the onion being scooped out from the skin with a small spoon. They make a very good supper dish. 521. Fried Onions (Oignons Frits) Onions. Salt, pepper. A little flour. Take as many onions as required, cut off the root and top and remove all the brown outside skin. Then put them into a saucepan with cold water to cover them, add a little salt, bring to the boil, and boil five minutes. Drain the onions and allow them to cool. Then cut the onions in very thin slices, cutting across the root or top, so that they fall in rings. Separate these rings lightly and toss a few at a time in a piece of paper with a little flour, pepper, and salt. Put them in a frying basket, fry in boiling fat (see French Frying, p. 248), until brown and crisp, and drain on kitchen paper. Unless they are crisp and easily broken they have not been sufficiently cooked, or the fat has not been hot enough. When all are cooked, serve them piled up on a very hot dish as an accompaniment to fried or broiled meat. 522. Onions au Gratin (Oignons au Gratin) 3 or 4 cooked onions. £ pt. white sauce. 3 table-sps. grated cheese. 1 dessert-sp. browned bread-crumbs. A small piece of butter. Break the onions in pieces, but do not chop them. Grate the cheese and have ready about \ pint well seasoned white sauce. Grease a fireproof dish and put into it first a layer of onion, then a layer of cheese, then some sauce and more onion, continuing thus until all are in. Sprinkle a few browned bread-crumbs over the top, lay on a few small pieces of butter and bake in the oven until nicely browned. Serve in the same dish. Note. — A few peeled and sliced tomatoes mixed with the onions will make a nice addition to this dish. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. 523. Stuffed Onions (Oignons Farcis) 3 or 4 Spanish onions. 2 table-sps. cooked meat. 2 table-sps. bread -crumbs. 1 tea-sp. chopped parsley. Salt, pepper. 3 or 4 button mushrooms. A pinch of nutmeg. 1 table-sp. brown or tomato sauce. 1 or 2 oz. butter or dripping. 1 gill brown stock.